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Xylome Replaces Palm Oil with Fermented Yoil and Yoil-Cream
Xylome has launched two sustainable drop-in replacements for refined, bleached and deodorized (RBD) palm oil: Yoil (INCI: Lipomyces Oil Extract) and Yoil-Cream. These novel products are described in a recent on-line publication of Oils and Toiletries Lipomyces oil (YoilTM) is a pure oil extracted from Xylome’s patented strain of Lipomyces without bleaching or deodorization. Yoil (yeast oil) is a white, solid fat at room temperature and a clear liquid at body temperature. Yoil-CreamTM is comprised of isolated lipid bodies along with other mild ingredients. The cream is stable upon repeated steam sterilization and potentially useful for the loading of hydrophobic active ingredients.
Xylome’s Yoil is brighter than organic RBD and does not require bleaching like other yeast oils
Xylome partners with Comstock in successful US-DOE award for sustainable biofuels
Jan 26, 2023 – The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $118 million in funding for 17 projects to accelerate the production of sustainable biofuels for America’s transportation and manufacturing needs. Comstock, Inc. is a recipient of one of these – a $2,000,000 award to create “Bioleum”. The process starts with woody lignocellulosics to create a purified cellulosic sugar, which Xylome’s lipogenic yeast will convert into oil. It will combine lignocellulose fractionation with fermentative oil generation and thermochemcal blending to create a high energy fuel.
Xylome leading in commercial development of palm oil substitute
Dec. 22, 2022 – In an interview with FoodIngredientsFirst, Xylome’s CEO, Tom Kelleher noted that its product, Yoil, “is produced by yeast in a pure-culture fermentation. It is a white, nearly bioidentical replacement for Refined-Bleached-Deodorized (RBD) tropical palm oil.” Xylome’s product is unique in being colorless and odorless without bleaching. “The major challenge is the large capital expense (CapEx) for commercial-scale fermentation facilities,” he notes. “To achieve a global game-change, the cost of Yoil must be significantly lower than the cost of crude palm oil in the field in Malaysia.” Large scale, lower cost production increases the impact of sustainable production. “Xylome was founded to make sustainable ingredients for large markets using the power of yeast synthetic biology.”
Xylome awarded a USDA SBIR grant to improve aquaculture
July 1, 2022 – The USDA SBIR program, administered by NIFA, awarded Xylome an SBIR Phase I grant to produce low cost omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids from yeast to improve the nutritional quality of aquaculture raised fish.
Xylome in the news: The Irreplaceable
June 23, 2022 – London Review of Books • Bee Wilson
Bee Wilson has published an in-depth review of Jocelyn Zuckerman’s excellent text, “Planet Palm: How Palm Oil Ended Up in Everything – and Endangered the World” Wilson’s review in the June , 2022 issue of the London Review Of Books summarizes the major points. Xylome is mentioned prominently in Planet Palm’s Epilog, and Wilson captures the essence: “A synthetic palm oil made by a fermentation process similar to brewing beer, which apparently looks like ‘an assemblage of golden-hued blobs’, waxy and odourless. It is made by an American tech company called Xylome, which has also created a sustainable alternative to biofuels using corn stover.” You can listen to an interview with Wilson here.
Xylome team presented Yoil technology for higher oil production at the Fuel Ethanol Workshop and Expo
June 13-16, 2022 – Minneapolis, MN
Palm oil is one of the most destructive ingredients you use every day. These startups are trying to replace it
January 27, 2022 – Fast Company • Adele Peters
Xylome is beginning to work with brands to test an alternative called “Yoil,” produced by yeast, that’s almost identical to palm oil. “It’s basically a drop-in replacement,” says Xylome CEO Tom Kelleher.
Can Synthetic Palm Oil Help Save the World’s Tropical Forests?
January 5, 2022 – YaleEnvironment360 • James Dinneen
Several startups are creating synthetic palm oil in the lab, hoping to slow the loss of tropical forests to oil palm cultivation. But palm oil is the most widely used vegetable oil, and producing a synthetic version on a large scale remains a daunting challenge.
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2015-2021
The Global Aquaculture Challenge recognizes Xylome for innovation in aquaculture
October 5, 2021 – Xylome won an international award for innovation in aquaculture. The 2nd Global Aquaculture Challenge recognized Xylome’s Yoil(TM)-NoFish technology as an innovative, inexpensive and sustainable process that will generate omega-3 fatty acids for use as aquaculture feed. The Yield Lab Asia Pacific Agtech Fund and Accelerator sponsored a global competition to identify the most promising technologies for sustainable aquaculture. Xylome’s innovation focuses on the production of high omega-3 fatty acids from fermentation byproducts using an engineered highly lipogenic yeast. Using Xylome’s technology, Aquafeed containing heat-treated yeast in combination with other ingredients could cost as little as $0.65 a pound compared to $0.95 a pound for traditional aquafeed. That price target is especially feasible when combined with a soy protein base. Details about Xylome’s participation in this competition can be found here.
Xylome describes sustainable technology for engineered oils from agricultural byproducts
September 10, 2020 – Each year, the roughly 200 industrial ethanol plants in the U.S. collectively produce about 30 million metric tons (m.t.) of low-value waste stream called stillage containing water-soluble organics and corn fiber residues. Disposing of stillage is problematic. However, Xylome, a small business based in Madison, WI, has developed a way to use the waste stream as a consistent, stable feedstock for conversion to valuable products. The company has genetically engineered a novel yeast to enable this transformation.
Find a brief description of the technology in the American Institute for Chemical Engineering (AIChE) August Issue – now on line
Xylome awarded foundational patent on engineered yeast for lipid production
May 26, 2020 – The U.S. Patent Office has recognized Xylome’s exclusive right to claims under US 10,662,448 for “Compositions and methods for producing lipids and other biomaterials from grain ethanol stillage and stillage derivatives”.
Lipogenic yeasts are modified to express, constitutively express, or overexpress numerous enzymes for lipid synthesis and substrate utilization. The yeasts in some cases are also modified to reduce or ablate activity of certain proteins. The methods include cultivating the yeast to convert low value soluble organic stillage byproducts into lipids suitable for biodiesel production and other higher value uses.
Xylome acquires Sarnaya to provide base for cosmetic applications
November 10, 2019 – Xylome has acquired Sarnaya Skincare to provide the base materials for its skin cream. Xylome will begin production of yeast oil (Yoil™) at its contract facilities in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin by May, 2021.
DOE selects Xylome to make biodiesel and higher value products from stillage fiber
September 4, 2018 – The BioEnergy Technologies Office (BETO) within the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) informed Xylome that it’s application submitted in response to a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) was selected for award negotiations. Xylome must match 20% of the total project costs, which total approximately $1.3 million. The objective of the project is to generate biodiesel and higher value products from stillage fiber. The broader impact and commercial potential of this project is to produce, the next generation of sustainable, renewable, clean burning, high energy density, transportation biofuels. The project includes commercial collaboration with two large industrial ethanol producers.
Xylome Corporation awarded U.S. Department of Agriculture Phase I SBIR grant
June 1, 2017 – The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) awarded Xylome Corporation $100,000 for a Phase I Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grant to develop a Novel process for omega-3 oil production from agricultural byproducts. The grant, which started on June 1, 2017, focuses on metabolic engineering a yeast to produce omega-3 fatty acids for aquaculture.
Xylome Corporation awarded an SBIR Advance Award from Wisconsin for commercial and business development
March 1, 2017 – The Wisconsin SBIR Advance program awarded Xylome $75,000 for commercial and business development activities within Wisconsin. This grant has enabled Xylome to attend two trade shows that brought in major customer leads. It has also supported customer research that led to a new prospective product line.
Xylome awarded NSF Phase II SBIR grant
Sept 20, 2016 – Xylome Corporation was awarded $750,000 to develop a “Novel bioprocess for lipid production from industrial byproducts”. The two-year grant for $750,000, which started on October 1, 2016, will run through September 30, 2018.
The purpose of this Phase II project is to produce economically the next generation of sustainable, renewable, clean burning, high energy density, transportation biofuels. The proposed technology once successfully developed will enable existing biofuel producers to reduce their costs while increasing the value and diversity of their byproducts. It will convert their industrial waste products into tailored fatty acids suitable for biodiesel.
Researchers modifying yeast to turn ag residue into biofuel
August 26, 2016 – Capital Press • Matthew Weaver
Xylome’s development of native yeasts that use unconventional sugars has significant implications for farmers and the processing industries.
Ciência promete combustíveis mais baratos e mais limpos
June 4, 2016 – Económico • Francisco Ferreira da Silva
Brazil’s on-line news Económico reported on Xylome’s development of native yeasts for fermenting agricultural byproducts.
Cheaper fuel may be on the horizon thanks to an unlikely source
June 3, 2016 – Business Insider • Molly Sequin
A novel yeast, Spathaspora passalidarum, readily converts sugars from agricultural residues into sustainable, renewable biofuels.
Xylome Corporation awarded National Science Foundation Phase I SBIR grant
July 1, 2015 – The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded Xylome Corporation $150,000 for a Phase I Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grant to develop a Novel process for lipid production from industrial byproducts. The grant, which starts on July 1, 2015, will focus on metabolic engineering a yeast to produce fatty acids for biodiesel production.